Get a different view of Jeremy Bentham

2 November 2012

UCL staff will have a rare opportunity to see Jeremy Bentham's
Auto-Icon up close and personal on Thursday 8 November, when UCL Museums
staff will take him out of his case for cleaning.

UCL staff and the public will
be welcome to see Bentham from 12pm-4pm in the Rock Room in South Wing.
Bentham's clothes will be cleaned, and improvements will be made to the
lighting sensors and seals in his case, which prevent infiltration of dust.

Jeremy Bentham was a philosopher and jurist whose doctrine of
Utilitarianism has inspired many great thinkers. When he died in 1832 he left
his body to be publicly dissected by his friend, Dr Thomas Southwood Smith, and
asked that it be preserved as an 'Auto-Icon'. Jeremy the Auto-Icon came to the
College in 1850, he has been cared for by UCL ever since.

Nick Booth, Curator, Teaching and Research Collections
(Science and Engineering), UCL Museums and Public Engagement